Goodbye Elder Mower!!

Today my little brother Brandon left on his mission to the Dominican Republic. It was one of those bitter sweet moments. He has been so ready to go, and it was so good to see him so excited. As always, because he is the first to go, it was very emotional, but we know as a family that he is doing the right thing. When we got to the MTC, and he got all of his papers handed in, we rushed into the chapel, (we were 10 minutes late...) and watched the show, "Called to Serve". I had seen it before from when Chris' brother Nick left, but I think each time you watch it, you cry more. Then it was time to say our last goodbyes, and he was gone. After he hugged us he started off towards the door, and didn't look back. That tells me that he was ready to go. I am so grateful for the example he is being to our family, and wish him the best of luck! I sure hope 2 years goes by fast! Love you bud!!

Midnight Crop...or until 7:30....

So yesterday I went with my sister-in-law Erica to a midnight crop. Basically the crop room in the scrapbook store is open to use, and you can work on you projects there. Now mind you we went from 2 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. I don't know if I could stay awake until midnight! Lame huh! I personally had never been to anything like that, but it was so productive! I don't know if it was because I was forced to focus on my pages, or if I just was so eager to get semi-caught up. So thanks Erica for the fun and for meeting new people! Thanks for helping me with my layouts too!

FYI...

This Sunday is my little brother Brandon's mission farewell. Sacrament starts at 12:45 p.m. The address is about 9200 S. and 300 E. (right across the street from Mt. Jordan.) All who want to come and see him off one last time before he leaves are invited to attend. We will also be having food at my parents house afterwards, and everyone is invited to that as well. Hope to see you there!

UPDATE...

So I just wanted to give a quick update on the whole binkie situation. Madison did relatively well. A lot better than I had expected she would. It will be 2 weeks tomorrow since we took it away, and she has not asked for it in about a week. Those first few days were definitely the hardest. I wish that I would have had the courage to take it away a year ago. I kept making excuses as to why she should have it a little longer. i.e. we were moving, we moved again, we put her in a big girl bed, etc... In all honesty I think it was more of a comfort for me than it was for her. I'm glad she is over it now, and I am so proud of her! Love you Maddie!

So I saw this on someone else's blog, and thought it was cute, but kinda cheesy. Well the more I thought about it, the more I started thinking about memories I have with my friends and family that I would want to comment about on their blogs. So I am doing this post not because I want you to leave memories of me, but so that hopefully you will post this on your blog, and I can leave memories of you!! Thanks!!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, if we’ve actually met in person or not, anything you remember!



2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.

WE DID IT!!!

Yep thats right folks! After 3 years of having a binkie, we finally took Madison's away on Saturday! I have been telling myself for what, the past year that she is too old for a binkie, but she was so attached I couldn't do it. Saturday we went to Fashion Place Mall and went to Build-A-Bear. We let Maddie pick out her very own bear,(which by the way she picked a dog..), and told her that we were going to put her binkies inside the dog. I wanted to make it her decision to not have a binkie, so I said if she didn't want to she didn't have too. Well she wanted that dog pretty bad, so she agreed. We went through the whole building-a-bear process, and Madison put her binkie inside the bear with its heart. The girl stitched up the back, and it was gone. Madison was so excited for her new puppy! So we go to the car and her first question is: "Mom, can I have my binkie please?" Break my heart!! I explained that her binkie was inside the dog, so if she wanted her binkie she needed to just hug her puppy instead. Yeah not so much! She cried and cried. I felt horrible! What a bad mom to take her most prized possession away, and give her a dumb stuffed puppy instead. But Chris said I had to stick to my guns, so we kept reminding her that her binkie was in her puppy when she would ask for it. Well that night she cried for an hour and a half before she fell asleep. The next night, an hour, and last night 45 minutes. So it is getting better. Over all she is doing pretty good. She has asked for it a lot less than I expected she would, and the meltdowns are not lasting as long when we say no too. We had to do it. She is a smart enough girl that I think she knew she didn't need it anyways, but it was just a habit. I think I am the one who needed the binkie. It would stop tantrums, and she would go right to sleep with it. Oh well, one more phase we have completed in the many more to come!

Yellowstone

I have been meaning to post about this trip for a week now, but I guess was dreading how long it might take. So sorry for the long post. ;)

We went with my family to Yellowstone for a little "last trip" before Brandon leaves on his mission on the 30th of July. So we drove to Rexburg and stayed there and drove into Yellowstone for 2 days. Then the 3rd day we went to Bear World, which is in Rexburg. We had a blast! Thanks mom and dad for all the fun!

There were lots of wildlife just by the road, so we could pull over and take a peek at everything. These Elk were drinking from the river, and didn't seem to mind us being there.

This bison was just taking a stroll down a bridge and holding up traffic. It was so funny! We were seriously 3-4 feet away from the bison as it passed us on the bridge, and it didn't even stop.

Chris was zoomed out as far as possible on our camera when the bison passed him, so you can tell how close he was...

Madison wanted to "pet" every animal we saw.

These things are HUGE!!!

Brandon took this picture of the one and only bear we saw in Yellowstone. The Forrest Rangers were making everyone move back, because you are "supposed " to stay 100 yards away from the bears. Brandon snuck down and caught this picture just in time. He was probably about 40 yards away from the bear when he took this picture. hehehe

Bear World
In Bear World, we were able to get up close to the bears in our cars. They would pass by as if we were a moving tree. We also went on this tour at Bear World, where we actually got to feed the bears from a huge truck. That was the best!

Grizzly Bear

These pictures are when we were feeding the bears. They would come over to the truck, and motion with their paws for food. It was so fun! Madison loved it!

They even had rides at Bear World. This one was our favorite! It was kinda like a small cheap kid version of the Rocket at Lagoon, only it didn't go up as high, or drop you all at once.

Madison didn't love it as much as the rest of us...

Our "Bear" Family

They even had a petting zoo. Madison got to pet a momma dear and her fawn. It was so cute!

This pig loved her!!! She would pet it and it would lay down on her feet and purr, if pigs can purr...

Madison County

The other fun thing, was that in West Yellowstone, it is Madison County. We thought that was pretty fun to have Madison's name everywhere. She loved it when she would recognize her name on signs.